


Been Hit Before

by kaylenpastarr



Category: Impractical Jokers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-06-01 07:51:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6509350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaylenpastarr/pseuds/kaylenpastarr





	1. Chapter 1

Looking down at my phone, trying my best to understand the directions I was reading, keeping my composure as much as I could whilst being in a city much more busier and hectic than I had imagined. I knew that New York was known for it's fast paced lifestyle, but I hadn't nearly prepared myself enough for just how crazy it really had turned out to be.

I had been called into the city for a job interview, and I knew I had to be close enough to where I had needed to be, but that didn't stop the stress from almost overpowering my entire body. I kept checking the time every five minutes it seemed, just hoping my best that I would find the building in time.

I finally got to a street that seemed a lot more calm, before noticing that the building I had been looking for all along was right at the end of it.  Checking my phone once more for the email containing the address, I walked up to the door, before pulling it open and stepping inside. I had to get to the 8th floor, so I headed straight for the elevator. Once inside, I patted down my clothes before smoothing my light brown hair with my hands, my highlights seeming more prominent in the lighting of the building making me appear to be blonde, a look that I had always wanted to try but never had the guts to jump completely into. 

Once the elevator had pinged, alerting me that I was at my door, I walked up to the desk that was outside in the corridor.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The woman smiled from across the desk.

"My name's Serena, I'm here for the assistant job interview." I smiled back as she looked onto her computer, before looking back towards me.

"Right through there, the second door on the right." She pointed down the corridor which contained three doors. Walking up to the one she had pointed me to, I read the sign, almost recognizing the font but not quite putting my finger on it. Tru TV almost sounded familiar, but I didn't know what company it was exactly. I just knew they needed an employee, and I just so happened to fit the description of what they had needed.

I knocked three times, before I heard a voice call for me to enter the room.

"Hey there, you must be Serena Tate? Finally a name to the face, it's so nice to meet you" She said, offering her hand out to which I shook.

"Yes it is, it's nice to meet you too" I smiled back as I retracted my hand.

"Take a seat, the boys should be here soon" she grinned, before setting her laptop onto the table and turning it on. Boys? I really should have taken the time to Google more about the Job or premises I had applied to be working at. "So, how did you find out about this job? I noticed on your résumé that you weren't from New York." She asked as her eyes scoured her computer screen.

"I needed a fresh start, I suppose. New place, new faces. It's always nice." I answered.

"I completely understand you there, which is why you could be possibly taking my job" she chuckled slightly, and I couldn't tell if she was happy about that or not.

"Oh, this is your job?" I questioned, slightly confused. Never had I turned up for a job interview to be interviewed by the person that had had the job prior to me.

"Yes, my husband has to leave the country for work, and I had made the decision to go with him. Whoever gets to fill my shoes has a very good time ahead of them, there has never been a dull day, or a moment where I had wished that I didn't work here. I'm very sad to be leaving." 

I smiled at her answer, but at the same time noticed the genuine sadness that she would be leaving before the door opened behind me and her face lit up a little at whatever or whoever was behind me. 

"Sorry we're late, we decided to travel together and got stuck in traffic." One voice appeared before I heard the murmurs of a few other guys voices appearing from the hallway before they got louder as they entered the room also.

"Hey! Serena, right? Sorry we're late. I'm Joe" he introduced himself with a handshake. "This is Murray, Sal and Brian." he continued, pointing to each guy as they smiled in my direction, Murray proceeding to give me a handshake, whereas Brian finger saluted me... Which was kind of weird, but maybe the atmosphere was just as relaxed as I had been previously told.

"Nice to meet you guys" I smiled, as everyone pulled their chairs out and sat around the table. 

"So, I was just telling Serena here that we would be interviewing her for my job." She announced, the guys watching and listening to her, whilst Brian seemed to be focusing his sights on me more. "Which is when you guys came into the equation, also - might I add - good timing." 

"You know what the job entails, I'm sure? organising schedules, contracts, overseeing cues, timings and continuity during recording and budgeting?" Joe asked, shuffling the paper before him, shrugging his head knowing that I must have known but having to make sure that I did. The job definitely seeming much bigger than I had originally thought, but nothing in the description seemed like something I couldn't handle. I had previous experience in assistance, but never quite to the extent of being so involved in what seemed to be a steady TV show.

"You've had experience in this field before, right?" Murray now asked. 

"I've had experience with being a production assistant, which with the organising skills needed, I happen to feel like I fit the criteria." 

"Oh, it'll definitely be the same. Except you'll be working for us and behind the scenes a little bit more, instead of helping with set jobs." Joe seemed to be cool with the difference in the job I had before to the job I was now applying for.

"I'd say you were actually more than qualified for just a regular assisting job." Sal said, looking down at the sheet of paper he was holding in his hands, which I was assuming was my résumé. I began to feel nervous, like that was his way of saying the he didn't want me working there. 

"That just means that she'll be able to do the job correctly. You want someone coming in and doing everything that you want completely to the opposite of your orders?" Brian turned to Sal, who was now staring into space whilst he thought through what Brian had just said.

"I have no problem with hiring her, I just wanted to make sure that it's what she would want. I wouldn't want to restrict her skills" Sal answered. It definitely felt awkward having them almost squabble about me right in front of me.

"I'm so sorry about this, Serena. These boys can never make up their minds, which is why they need someone like you and I to help them." The woman whom I still didn't know name of tried to make light of the situation, knowing that I must have felt slightly uncomfortable in the moment.

"I think she'll be a good addition to the team so I'm all for it." Brian said, patting his hands on my résumé laid on the table before him, Joe and Murray answering in agreement. Sal seeming much more quiet than the others whilst they looked at him, awaiting his answer.

"It was lovely meeting you, Serena. We will be contacting you soon." Sal stood up, extending his arm over the table to shake mine.

"Okay, well thank you. It was nice meeting you, too." I shook his hand, before going along the table continuing to say my thanks and goodbyes to the others.

As I exited the room from what had to be the weirdest interview experience of my life, I could hear the mutters behind the door of Sal saying something about how I would get bored working there, whilst I could hear the others standing their ground which kind of made me smile. 

Making my way out of the building, I saw two guys begin walking up to me at quite the pace. I decided to step back to let them walk past me because it looked like they were headed straight into me, yet they seemed to shift their direction and were still darting in my direction. That was when one of the guys lunged towards me, hitting me square in the jaw, whilst the other guy tried his best to hook his arm under the strap of my purse, pulling it from my shoulder. I grabbed the bottom of my purse, whilst one of the hooded morons had a hold of the strap, trying his best to pull it from my grasp.

"Listen, lady, just let go of the fucking bag and this will be over." He said, before pulling the bag with a much harder force, causing me to be pulled to the ground. 

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?!" I heard voices yell as I felt a heavy impact on my head for a second time. That was the time I finally let go off my purse, knowing I wouldn't be able to handle another hit. I felt the strap free of my arm, before the shadows lingering above me disappeared along with the footsteps of them running away.

"Serena, are you okay?!" I heard as someone grabbed my arm, pulling me off the ground, it was Brian from the interview, with Sal stood next to him.

"Who were those guys?" Sal asked, seeming panicked by the situation that he had just witnessed.

"I.. I don't know, I just came out and they came at me. The next thing I know they're just.. hitting me?" I answered, confused myself over the events of the last five minutes. I wiped the side of my head, looking down at the blood that was now on my hand. I saw the concern in the guys faces, and I knew that this couldn't have been good.

"Sal, go and get my car keys off the desk. She needs to see a doctor." Brian stated, as he pulled me to the bench on the other side of the sidewalk.

"No, really, I'm fine. Just confused is all" I replied, but Sal had already made his way back into the building.

"You had a few hits to the head, it's best to be checked out." He said, handing me a tissue that was in his jacket pocket. "They're clean, I promise. I got them from a drive thru last night" he chuckled, before realizing what he had just said, and his face seeming like he had regretted announcing that.

I took the napkins from his hand, wiping the blood away that was covering my hand, before dabbing it onto my head, wincing at the contact.

"Do you think I'm going to need stitches?" I asked, turning my head towards him so he could get a better view of the damage.

"I'm not sure, which is another reason to take you to the hospital." Brian said, as he continued eyeing up the wound.

Sal returned from the offices, throwing Brian's keys onto his lap.

"Here man, let me know how it goes." Sal said, before turning towards me, looking queazy at the sight of the blood, before heading back into the doors, holding his hands up to his head like he was having a much harder time coming to terms with what had just happened than I had.

"Sorry about him, he's not good with this stuff. Blood, vomit, any type of bodily fluid, he is not your guy." He tried his best to make light of a shitty situation, and at the same time apologize for his friend who came of a little cold as he wrapped his arm around me, before walking me up to a red Jeep, opening the door for me and helping me get into the car.

"Thank you. So much for this" I turned to him as he got into the drivers seat. The kindness of a stranger amazing me in that moment, when a few minutes before it was the brutality of a stranger mugging me on a street corner. There really was two types of people in this world.

"Don't mention it, now let's go and get you checked out." He said, whilst fastening his seat belt to make our journey to the hospital. The last place I would have imagined myself to be at today.


	2. Stitches.

I had been at the emergency room for a little over two hours now. I had already seen a doctor and I had been told that I was going to need stitches, so now the waiting game had begun. I was awfully nervous, there was nothing in the world I hated more than needles, and I had never needed stitches before so I was imagining the worst - thus working myself up.

"I didn't know what you liked so I got you both." Brian returned, holding both a can of soda and lemonade in each hand. "I figured which one you didn't want, I'd drink. So which is your poison?" He asked, holding them both up. 

"That one" I pointed to the lemonade. Thanking him as he passed me the cool can. "You know, I appreciate you staying here with me and all, but you must have something better to do than to sit in the emergency room with a stranger for hours on end." I giggled, yet wincing when the movement affected the pain in my head. Brian looked over at me with concern on his face.

"I just can't help but feel responsible for this happening. It happened outside of our offices. That kind of stuff never usually happens there, and the one time it did, you were the unlucky one." He opened the top of his can, taking a sip of his soda.

"I don't want you to feel guilty, or to be here out of a guilt. If it wasn't me, then it would have been someone else. You're not responsible at all. If anything, you guys turned up at the right time." 

"Well sometimes a guy can't help but feel bad." He looked towards me. "And I'm not here out of guilt, I want to make sure that you're okay. You're obviously new to New York."

"Well thank you." I looked back towards him. There was no use on fighting him being here, he had made it more than clear that he was going to stay. I just didn't want him to think of me as a nuisance. I still wanted the job after all, the last thing I wanted to do was make him sick of me already.

"So.. Where are you from?" He began to question.

"Somewhere far away from here." I exhaled, looking ahead of me. It's not that I purposely went out of my way to be rude, I just wasn't here to make friends. I had came here for an interview, to hopefully gain a new job in a new place. I was being work orientated. The last thing that I wanted to work on was my social life, especially after just being mugged.

"Alright.." Brian replied quietly, tapping his fingers on the side of his can. 

"Serena Tate?" A nurse called from down the hall.

"Well, that's me." I announced as I stood up from my seat. "Again.. Thank you for coming, I appreciate that. And thanks for the drink." I placed the can into the trash, before making my way to where the nurse had called me from. 

6 stitches and a huge white band aid on the side of my head later, I emerged from the cubicle to see Brian still sat in the same chairs that we had both been sat in. Upon seeing me, he stood up, knowing I had to walk past him anyway.

"What's the damage?" He asked, looking at the dressing on my head.

"6 stitches." I answered, watching his face clench up at my answer. 

"Nice." He tried not to smile, when I knew deep down that he wanted to. I looked beyond ridiculous.

"I didn't expect for you to still be here when I got out." I said as we walked out of the main entrance, the sun beginning to get noticeably lower, shining directly into my eyes.

"Well.. They took your purse, I didn't want to leave you with no way of getting home." He replied, making me realize that I hadn't even thought that part through. My phone, passport and credit card were all in that bag. I was almost 900 miles away from my hometown. So essentially - I was screwed. 

"Could today get any worse?" I groaned.

"It could, but I won't let it." He replied very smoothly. "Come on." He said, gesturing for me to follow him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, as he once again lead me to his jeep.

"Food. You must be as hungry as I am." He was right, I was starving, we had been here for hours, but that wouldn't solve all of the problems that I was going to be facing.

"Brian.. I need to find a way of getting home.." I said, before he got into the car. "I had my plane ticket, cards and phone in that bag." 

"So let's go and eat, call up the card companies in the car on the way there and cancel your cards. And get a refund on your flight while we're at it." He answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which I guess it was, but when you're in a city that you have no idea about, with no cash or way of contacting anybody for help, the obvious answers are the last thing that your mind travels to. You're just going to panic.

After sitting in the car on the journey to get food, I had managed to cancel all of the cards that had I had on me, but Brian and I had clearly not thought through the whole refunding of the plane ticket. A - I would have already missed the flight. And B - I couldn't have refunded it anyway when I had just canceled my card.

Pulling into a drive thru - of course the classiest of options - Brian turned to me as he ordered his food. After letting him know what I wanted, we pulled up into the parking spaces awaiting our food to be taken over to his car.

"So.. You have anybody in New York that you can stay with? Any relatives close by?" He asked.

"Nope." I said, shaking my head. "No one." 

"I'll pay for your hotel room tonight, don't worry so much." He replied.

"Are you sure?" I asked, feeling bad for him to suggest such a thing after he had already done so much for me already. 

"You think I'm just going to leave you on the streets all night?" He laughed a little as he looked at me. "You're right. You're definitely not from New York." 

"I'll reimburse you everything for today as soon as I go and pick my card up tomorrow." 

"Don't worry about that, honestly." He leant his hands against his steering wheel, before an employee of the food joint knocked on his window, handing him our meals after he wound his window down. "Just think of it as your new boss giving you a favor." He said as he smiled towards me. It took a moment for the penny to drop, but when it did I had to question him.

"My new boss? You mean I got the job?" I asked, smiling at at least one good outcome of today.

"Well, Murray, Joe and I want you working for us, and Sal is easily persuaded, so I'd like to say that you did" 

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much. You litterally have no idea on how much you just turned my day around." 

"I mean, I think I have a bit of an idea" he chuckled slightly as he pointed to the bandaged area on my head.


	3. Coffee, lunch or drinks?

"Oh, hey Brian?" I answered the hotel room door the following morning, expecting to see room service but was met with Brian's face instead. 

"Just thought I'd drop by to check on the patient. And to see if you need a ride to the bank?" He more so offered than asked.

"Do you mind? I would go by myself but without my phone I have no direction whatsoever."

"Which gives me another reason why I'm here. We emailed you, but then I recalled that you lost your phone. Are you free this afternoon?" 

"It very much looks like it." I laughed, referring to the mess that I had managed to get myself into whilst being in New York.

"I'll take you to the offices after we go to the bank, then." He smiled softly, yet all I could think about was the assault that had happened outside those very doors. "Don't worry so much. That won't happen again. I won't let it." He very chivalrously announced. His smooth words seeming like something he had a lot of practise in.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." I smiled towards him as I fetched my jacket that I had thrown over the chair. 

"So how was your sleep last night?" He tried his best to make small talk, after all I wasn't filling the room with endless amounts of conversation. Warming to someone is something I let myself do over time. I liked to get to know someone without committing to the friendship straight away. I had endured enough let down to last me a life time, so my new life in New York would be that of a different nature. I definitely wanted to put work before anything. And as kind as Brian had been, he was still a guy and that alone made me wary to trust him so soon. He could very much have a different motive than just being friendly. After all, who was friendly by choice these days? There always seemed to be a second motive.

"It was good. Thank you again for the hotel, I promise I'll pay you back." 

"Nonsense." He laughed. 

"Please, it seems like a lot. I wouldn't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage." 

"Quite the stubborn one, aren't we?" He raised his eyebrows towards me. 

"Don't you know that it's rude to assume?" I replied as I walked past him. 

"Who said that I was assuming?" His voice followed behind me as we made our way out of the hotel lobby. I remained quiet as I noticed his car parked near the sidewalk. 

"I mustn't have been hit that hard. I definitely remember this jaunty color." I said, signalling my eyes to the paintwork of his car.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brian laughed, obviously knowing that I had to be insinuating something. 

"Red is quite the vigorous color." I said, before hopping into the car as he did the same.

"Assuming that you know me, now?" He mocked.

"Not assuming, but slowly learning." 

"From the color of my car?" 

"Color's play an extremely big part in every day life, I'll have you know. And red? That's one of the most descriptive choices. Assuming that you chose this color?" 

"I did." He replied. "So what d'ya know?" 

"Well it exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy, for starters." Something that I had seen when he had intervened when I was being mugged. The look on his face had told me that he liked the answer to what I had just told him. "But then it is also the universal color for danger." 

"And do you think that I could be dangerous?" 

"If I did, would I really be getting into a car with you?" 

"Then I guess I will take that as a compliment." 

"But with that being said... drivers of red cars are usually quite aggressive behind the wheel of their car." 

"How do you know all of this stuff?" He chuckled before starting his car.

"It doesn't hurt to know things." I smiled as he shook his head at my answer, but still continuing his laugh. 

At the bank, it felt like we had been sitting around for hours. I had told Brian multiple times that it was okay for him to leave, but he seemed more than adamant to stay. I was beginning to wonder if he was only being so helpful out of guilt. His endless help did seem like an awful lot, and it was something that I couldn't help but question.

"I never thought we'd get out of there" I took a deep breath of the crisp air as we exited the bank.

"That's the thing you will soon learn about New York, Serena. Everything you used to do quickly at home, add about another half hour onto it when you're here." 

"Sadly patience is my downfall, so I'm not too sure on how greatly I'll warm to that rule." 

As we stepped back into his car, we only seemed to have driven down a couple of streets before we were pulling up outside of the offices. My stomach churned at the thought of what happened yesterday, and I couldn't help but replay it over and over in my head. 

"You good?" Brian asked as he made his way onto the sidewalk. 

"Huh?" He snapped me out of my thoughts before the question that he had asked sunk in. "Oh. Yeah, yeah. It's just a little eery I suppose." 

"We've been here almost five years and that's the only time that has happened. This isn't that bad of a neighborhood, I hate to say it but I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't want you to turn up here terrified every morning." He looked at me a little sympathetically as he opened the door for me. 

"I hope you're right." I sighed as we made our way to the elevator.

"I guess on the bright side, you have nothing left for them to take."

"Gee, thanks." The smile that was on his face fell when he realized the darkness of the joke that he had just tried on me. His face definitely looked like he should have thought about what he had said before it had come out of his mouth.

"I didn't mean it like that.." He tried to defend himself as I walked past him and into the elevator.

"I know, I know." Although the joke could have been funnier, I at the same time understood that he was messing around so I didn't take it personally. He was just trying to lighten the mood and I had to appreciate the fact that he was trying.

As Brian lead the way to the door that I had entered yesterday, he held it open once more as I made my way through, making sure to thank him as I walked past.

"Oh my God, is that what happened to you yesterday?" Murray instantly walked over to me which drew the attention of what everyone else in the room was doing onto me. Something that I hated with a passion. "I didn't see what happened, I only heard about it. Jesus, what did they take?"

"Just about everything." I pulled an obvious fake smile.

"Well thank God that Brian and Sal were heading out and managed to stop it." 

"Although Sal deserves little to no praise for that." Brian butted in, the memory of Sal more than freaking out popped into my mind.

"Hiding behind you like a little bitch?" Joe asked Brian, to which he nodded over enthusiastically to in response.

"Here, sit down, get comfortable" Murr said as he pulled an office chair put for me. 

"Thank you" I smiled towards him. He seemed extremely warm and inviting, the complete opposite of what Sal had been as he hadn't said a single word since I entered the room. 

Everyone rallied around into their seats at the table, before Joe began smiling at me.

"We want you to work for us." His beaming smile continued there after.

"Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!" I returned the smile, having to act like Brian hadn't told me this exact piece of information last night.

"And we want you to start this Wednesday!" Murr added.

"This Wednesday? Oh wow, that's amazing" I smiled once more, realizing that was only three days away. 

"Boys, ten minutes and then we're leaving!" The woman from yesterday popped her head through the door, raising her voice so that all four men were aware.

"So this means we'll see you Wednesday, then?" Joe stood before me over the table, reaching his hand out to shake mine. I placed mine in his as I nodded. "And no more running into local thugs, alright?" He patted my arm before he made his way out of the door.

As the guys began collecting their things and leaving, Brian lingered back, before grabbing my attention when it was only the two of us in the room.

"So.. You free to have a drink tonight?" He seemed nervous when he asked. Of course that seemed like harmless fun, but I had already been around him all day. He was probably sick of my presence.

"I would love to, but I really need to sort my things out.." 

"No, right, I get it. Of course you do" he fake chuckled, obviously a little let down that I had turned his offer down.

"Another time though?" I made sure to say as I made my way out of the door. Although I wasn't sure if there was any truth in my words. It was kind of the last thing that I had any intention of doing.

"Sounds like a plan." He said, as he threw his bag over his shoulder.

 

Wednesday came around soon enough, and after having the last two days to figure out my living arrangements, I had finally found a room to rent a couple of blocks down from my new workplace. It wasn't the biggest place, nor the cheapest, but I guess that was the price to pay of choosing to start a new life in New York.

As 9am approached, I made my way into the offices, almost feeling like I was the first one there as there was no noise whatsoever.  Upon walking into their room, I was met with Sal sitting at the table, looking deeply at a sheet of paper.

"Good morning." I made sure to make the attempt that I knew he wouldn't as I shut the door quietly behind me.

"Morning." He looked up at me, folding the corners of the paper in his hands. "How's your head?" He asked, almost throwing me for a loop. This guy would barely acknowledge my existence the last few times I had been around him, so for him to continue a conversation to me felt like a much bigger deal than what it probably was.

"It's okay. A little sore but I guess it could have been worse." 

"Q told me that you decided to not call the cops?" 

"Yeah." I nodded, wondering if he was going to scold me for that. "I didn't see their faces at all, I felt like it was kinda pointless." 

"They take your phone?" He asked, and I nodded in response. He pulled his laptop closer to him before opening it. He tapped away for a minute or two before focusing his sights back on me. "What was the number?" As I told him the number, he typed it out before his eyes scoured the screen before him. He turned the laptop round, before a picture of a small map popped up with a highlighted red point spot.

"What is that?  

"That, is your phone. In lower Manhattan." He raised his eyebrows.

"How did you do that?" I questioned.

"It's not that hard to track a phone." He shrugged. 

"Well I guess not."

"I'll check back once we finish here and then we can go and see if we can find it." He said, before shutting the top of his laptop.

"Are you sure?" I asked, remembering Sal seemed less than confrontational when I was mugged that day.

"Chances are they sold it, so it shouldn't be that hard." His eyes looked up behind me as someone entered the room.

"It's nice to see you two finally getting along." Brian's voice filled the room, before he pulled out a chair next to me and sat down. Moments later the other two filled the room.

"Do you guys want any tea or coffee?" I asked, remembering that I was in fact on the job now.

"There's actually a list of stuff that we need to get for filming this week. Mostly foods and drinks, but a coffee sounds like the main priority for me right now." Murr yawned. 

"I'll take a coffee if you're going down there." Joe chimed in.

"Brian, Sal?" I looked at the two of them. Sal shrugged his head before Brian looked up at me.

"Sure, grab me a tea please." He smirked up towards me.

 

Upon returning with the drinks in the holder, the door to their room was slightly ajar and I could have sworn that I had heard the mention of my name.

"Maybe she has a boyfriend." I heard Joe say. "Or maybe she just isn't buying the old Q charm." 

"It was so embarrassing, man. She straight up stuttered an excuse." Brian laughed. 

"My guess is she's got a dude." Joe said once more. "But that being said, she's new here. Meaning he isn't here. So maybe that'll work in your favor." 

"Maybe. Or maybe she doesn't drink. I don't know?"

"So ask her to lunch. Girls love that." Murray said.

"You've been single longer than anyone here, you think I'm just going to take your word for that?" Brian shot back.

"I heard 'Coffee is cheap, drinks are an audition, lunch is an interview but dinner means business'." Joe said. To which Sal shook his head.

"Coffee is boring and makes your breath smell, drinks are fun and liable to lead to nakedness, lunch is only ever going to work if it's at the weekend because work takes precedence over leisurely lunch breaks, and dinner means you will be expected to get naked especially if there are drinks involved too." Sal said, like he had given this conversation much thought before in his lifetime. "If you really like the girl you should opt for the dinner date. A lunch date means you're in the friend zone." 

"You guys read too many chick magazines." Brian laughed at how heated their debate seemed to be getting. Which lead me to believe that I had heard enough and made my way into the door.

"Hey, Serena? What are your thoughts on lunch dates?" Murray asked, gaining Brian to shoot a glare straight at him.

"I wouldn't completely write off the chances of romance at lunch, it just depends on what day of the week it is. If it's the weekend there's a good chance of having a successful lunch date, but if it's a weekday and they are in a regular 9-5, then you're only going to have time to get soup and half a sandwich." 

"And what if he works some days 12 hours and is on a TV show?" Joe laughed.

"That wouldn't be a question that I would know the answer to." I smiled as I pulled the coffee cups out of the holder. I didn't want to suggest something for it to be used in asking me. There would be no way for me to turn it down without raising a few eyebrows.

 

After being on set for a few hours, the crew had decided to take a quick break in between filming. I was checking the schedual in the papers they had given me, when a shadow of someones body blocked the sun light I was using to read.

"Hey" Brian stood before me with his hands in his coat pockets.

"Hey" I smiled back.

"How's your first day going?" He asked.

"It's going pretty good. Although it is freezing." I said, as I shuddered slightly.

"That is is." He chuckled. "Look.. I may be going out on a limb here, but how about that drink tonight?" All I could do was look at him as he awaited a no once more. "Please? Don't let a guy beg." He tried to pull a smile onto his face.

"I kinda have plans after work.." I said, which wasn't a lie. Sal had suggested that we go and get my phone back. I saw the look of disappointment return as he tried to hide it, but I could tell that it was there. "But I'll be free later on in the night?" I suggested. The look on his face causing too much guilt for me to ignore.

"9ish?" He asked, a genuine smile coming onto his face.

I nodded to his suggestion. "I have your number. I should have a phone within the next few hours so I will text you my address." I smiled.

"Alright, sounds good. I better be getting back. Don't forget to text me your address." He said, smiling once more and making his way back to the other guys.

I hated the fact that I was breaking one of my rules about being in New York, but the atmosphere at work would just be too awkward if I were to keep turning him down. I just hoped that it wouldn't be twice as awkward after our date, especially when the last thing that I was looking for was a boyfriend.


	4. Rusty

Back at the offices after a long day on set, everyone had finally gone their seperate ways besides Sal and I. 

"Is it still in the same place?" Sal asked as he pulled his jacket on. I nodded as I looked at the app before me. "I should be okay with knowing how to get there." He said as he ushered for me to follow behind him. 

As we got into the car, making the drive to Manhattan, I noticed that the area was much nicer than the area that I would be residing in. Making me wonder why on earth someone would feel the need to steal my phone in the first place when the area looked almost like one of the wealthiest places I had seen in New York so far.

"I have the eeriest feeling about this" I announced as we pulled up outside the small townhouse. Sal looked over at me giving me a concerned look. 

"Do you want to stay in the car?" 

"Is that alright with you?" I asked back. I could tell that he was nervous too, but he hid it much better than I did.

"If this is our guys that did this to you" he said, pointing to the healing cut on the side of my head, "then they're probably too cowardly to even try to hit a guy" he finished, and although there was truth in what he said, I couldn't help but think he only said that for his own encouragement to go and confront whoever was behind that door. Especially if it were to be the guys that mugged the phone off of me in the first place.

"That's true. Just please be careful, and don't go inside." I clenched my teeth as he stepped out of the car. I watched as he walked up to the door, knocking on it a few times before someone answered. I noticed a woman with shoulder length red hair standing in the door way, Sal exchanging what seemed to be a flowing conversation between him and the pristine dressed woman. 

Assessing that the situation was looking less than hostile, my anxiety of coming face to face with the unruly thugs that mugged me began to falter. I was just about to open to the door and step out of the car to join him when I spotted him making his way inside the house, shutting the door gently behind him. What on earth was going on?

Ten minutes did anything but fly by before I noticed Sal walking back up to his vehicle in the wing mirror. As he opened the door and planted himself back into the drivers seat, I almost couldn't wait to bombard him with one hundred and one questions.

"I got something that belongs to you" he said whilst rifling in his jacket pocket, before pulling out my familiar cell phone wrapped in it's burgandy phone case and placing it onto my lap.

"I literally cannot thank you enough!" I announced, checking it over to check for any damage.

"Turns out her daughter bought it from some craigslist ad. I've actually got the guys number." He said, looking me deeply in the face like he was waiting for my reaction on that.

"Why have you got his number?" 

"Aren't you just a little bit curious to know who did this to you?" 

"No, no I am not. The last thing that I'll ever want to do is relive that, and to see the face of the person that did this to me. I'd just rather not know." 

"But don't you deserve some justice?" 

"I don't feel like I deserve anything. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like Brian said, if it wasn't me then it would have been someone else." 

"Trust Q to give such advice" he shook his head before he clipped his seatbelt on.

"I really do appreciate you for helping me out with getting my phone back though." I said, forcing a smile towards him. 

"Well if you're looking for a way to repay me, I have something in mind." 

"And what might that something be? I quizzed, wondering where on earth this could be heading to.

"My boy Quinn." He looked back at me as I raised an eyebrow.

"What about him?" 

"You should let him take you out." He smirked, as if he was a 12 year old kid that had just snitched his best friends crush on the school playground. 

"We actually are going out tonight." I smiled back, receiving a happy reaction from Sal. "Which reminds me, do you mind giving me his number?" 

"That sly dog, I can't believe he got a date and didn't tell me." He laughed. As I turned my phone on, I noticed that the whole thing had been reset. My apps, pictures and contacts had all been erased. Just my luck. "Are you ready for me to read it out now?". Sal asked, and I nodded as he began to read out the number as I typed it into my phone.

"Thanks"  I smirked as he began the ignition to his car.

"So.. I've gotta ask. What are you guys doing on your date?" 

"He's taking me for a drink." I replied, keen to see his reaction after over hearing their conversation on date choices earlier on. Drinks were liable to lead to nakedness, were they? I had yet to figure out if that was Q's only intention with me, and I had hoped that Sal's reaction would give me a little insight into the answer.

"Standard Q behaviour." He laughed, causing me to wonder what that could possibly mean. Sal looked over, obviously noticing the look on my face that I had unknowingly portrayed. "I didn't mean it like he does it all the time." He stuttered, again making me wonder if that was the truth, or something far from it.

"So what if he does it all the time?" I acted as smoothly as I could to calm him down, and maybe to gain a further information.

"I just mean if there's alcohol involved then he'll be there." I squinted my eyes as I took in his words. Not necessarily a way that I would sell my friends to a potential partner.

"And again, not like that. Just hand me a shovel, I'm digging myself too deep right here." He stammered nervously as I saw us approaching the offices. "You said your place is near here, so if you wanna give me directions?" He said, changing the subject. A subject that I was very much interested in. But I knew if I were to find out more about this guy, then it would have to be straight from the horses mouth himself.

"Thank you for this, Sal." I said as he pulled up outside of my apartment building.

"Hey, Serena?" He called out as I was just stepping out of the car.

"What's up?" 

"What I said earlier about Q.. it all came out wrong. Truth his, he's a great guy. One of the best, actually. If I had any worry that he was going to try and fuck you over, then the last thing that I'd let him do would be to let him take you out. Especially now that you're working with us." 

I nodded to his response, flashing him a quick smile before shutting the door behind me. I could tell there was definite sincerity in his words, but at the end of the day, my opinion on him was one that I wanted to make my mind up on alone. 

Getting comfortable on the couch, I scrolled to the only contact now saved into my phone book. Brian's. Sending him a text only containing an address and no name, I awaited his response to see if he had remembered his date proposition. Shortly enough, a response came through.

'See you at 9.' It read, causing me to smile that he at least remembered his suggestion. It was an hour away until he would be here, and in that time I felt the sudden urge to want to know more about the people employing me, and just how popular their show really was. 

Upon googling their show, I had become aware that their show was massively popular. Not only here, it was even bigger in the UK. Was I really about to go on a date with a higher ranked 'celebrity' than I thought? And more importantly, I hoped that this would in no way bring any attention to me if I were to be seen with him. 

I decided to throw on a pair of jeans and a tank top, not the usual date attire but I didn't want to give of any wrong impressions. After all, I heard what Sal had said about drinks leading to nudity, and I never heard him deny that that's where he wanted it to go. So my guard would always be up until he was to prove me otherwise. 

 

The hour flew by and before I knew it Brian was knocking at my front door. 

"Hey" he smirked as I opened the door, almost seeming like he was.. nervous? "Ready to leave?" 

"Let me just grab my coat." I smiled before turning and grabbing my coat off the hook. 

"I didn't think I'd be hearing from you tonight, you know." He began as I shut my door behind me and we made our towards his car.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"You texted me an hour before I suggested going out, I thought I blew all chances with you." He said, pretending to sound hurt yet in a cocky way because I was now actually here.

"You haven't. Not yet, anyway." I smiled before getting into his car.

We drove to a local bar not far from my apartment, a quiet place but with just enough atmosphere to not seem boring,

"So, how's work?" Q began questioning after he ordered our first round of drinks.

"Work's fine. One of the bosses I'm a bit unsure of, though" I sipped my straw whilst looking Brian in the eyes, he chuckled a little at my comment.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?" He played along.

"Well he keeps pestering for me to go out with him, and now I'm sat in what seems to be a gentlesman club." I looked around at the people surrounding us, all seeming to be men in their later years.

"This is one of my favorite places to drink. You don't like it?" 

I shrugged, not to piss him off but to let him know that getting to know me would be not that of an easy thing to do. I was guarded, and until I knew him properly, I didn't want him to like me any further. 

"It'll do." I said, placing my glass onto the small table in between us both. "Tonight's about us getting to know each other, after all." And that is something that I definitely wanted to do. For some reason, I seemed to be extremely curious to know more about this guy, but letting him know that would be one of the last things I'd do.

"That's true." He replied. "Speaking of getting to know each other, though." He paused. I was not really looking forward to him about to be poking into my life. But first dates where always somewhat of the sort. "I've been trying to work out for so long where your accent is from. I know it's not New York, and other than that I am stumped." 

"What accent?" I laughed, really thinking that I didn't have one at all. Definitely not compared to him, anyways.

"I asked you before where you were from but you kinda shut me down" he chuckled awkwardly, but I could tell that subtle hint was a form of asking the question again.

"Michigan, I'm from Michigan." 

"Ah, the state where you can have 70 degrees and sun one day and a snowstorm the next." 

"You've been?" I laughed at his more than true statement.

"A couple times. So what brings you out here?" 

"It's impossible to keep a job in Michigan, every company ends up moving to Mexico, and you're bound to be let off sooner or later." I sighed.

"So what made you choose to come to New York of all places?" 

"I just needed a fresh start. And I thought there'd be plenty of job opportunities here" 

"Fresh start?" He asked. This guy was really coming in thick with the questions. "Sorry if that was too much." He laughed awkwardly once again. "I'm assuming it was a dude by your reaction, though." 

"Maybe." I replied, not wanting to get into those kind of details with someone that I still barely knew. Which made it my turn to poke around with some questions.

"So howcome you're still single?" I went ahead and asked the main - and possibly quite intrusive - question that I had wanted to know most. He was 40, he either had just come out of a relationship to be dating again, or this was something he did every weekend to fill in the void of not having a relationship. I didn't want to be a girl that would be on quite possibly a long list of girls that he could easily forget.

"Not wasting any time, are we?" He laughed as I shook my head. "I just haven't found the right person yet, I guess." He shrugged. "To be honest, I hate dating. I don't like putting myself out there, I think for the most part I just sit and hope for someone to find me, which is most likely why I'm still single. But it couldn't have been a bad approach, you literally walked into the door." 

"I'm sure you could get plenty of girls. Blondie behind the bar can't stop checking you out."

He shrugged, almost seeming awkward by me pointing out that a girl was finding him attractive. However, there was no blonde behind the bar. I had made that part up to see if he would look at her, yet he still kept his sights on me. He passed that small test.

"So how about you, what's your reason?" I felt my insides begin to flip flop, the feeling must have gone straight to my face as Brian seemed to notice a bad vibe from asking that question. "Don't worry about it if it's too fucked up." Which is when I finally felt like maybe I could let him in on this one part of my life. He had seemed more than genuine with wanting to get to know me thus far, so I should probably tone down being so cold.

"I've never actually had a boyfriend. Well.. technically." 

"That's not that weird, you're younger than me." 

"There was this one guy, Bobby. He was my friend and I may have had feelings for him. And I don't know if he caught onto my feelings or something, but he one day just stopped being my friend altogether. He just disappeared. Was no longer there, and avoided me at every cost. I felt like it was a bit dramatic, but it still sucked nonetheless." 

"Unrequited feelings, who the fuck wants those. That fucking sucks."

"Yep. Anyway, the last thing that I'd want to do is face him every day. So.. here I am." 

"Bobby's loss, my gain?" He held his drink up to cheers my own.

"Did anyone ever tell you that your confidence could be mistaken as arrogance?" I joked, hoping that he would notice I wasn't being serious, as he rarely seemed arrogant at all so far.

"Maybe a couple times." He played back.

After an hour or two, our date had come to an end. We hadn't even got another drink after our first, we were too engaged in conversation to part ways momentarily. So Brian had offered to take me home, which I had accepted.

After pulling up outside my apartment, Brian walked me up to my door. 

"So I'll see you at work tomorrow?" 

"Yes you will" I smiled. "Thank you for a really nice night." I finished as I unlocked my door. Upon turning around, I saw Brian leaning in, and my first instinct was to move my head slightly, his face now coming into contact...with my hair. I felt so completely awkward until I felt and heard him laughing against me.

"Relax, would you. I was trying to kiss your cheek." He looked at me, smiling away at my embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. It's just.. Well, you know." I said, placing my palms over my face to hide any redness filling my cheeks.

"It's alright, really. I'm a little rusty too." 

"Says the one who can't stop laughing." 

"Alright, alright, I'll stop laughing and let you get inside." 

"Thank you." I chuckled, still completely humiliated but glad he was understanding of the weirdness of this situation.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Serena." He smiled before turning and making his was to his car. I just prayed that this wouldn't be a story that he'd tell his friends about.


	5. Time to play.

Red faced and on edge, I sat in the offices the following morning awaiting the arrival of the guys. Something of which I was extremely dreading. I was mostly worried about seeing Q for obvious reasons, but I had the feeling that at least one of his friends would know about the embarrassing end to the night. After all, that's what best friends do, right? They tell reach other everything. 

As I stood printing something off, I heard someone enter the room behind me, so I pretended that I hadn't even noticed until I heard footsteps coming closer to me.

"Morning" 

I turned around to see a smile form on Q's face, like he had just replayed the moment in his head because it was one of those genuine yet awkward smiles. All before he leant in to kiss me on the cheek - which I allowed him to do this time.

"What's up?" 

"So I was allowed to do that this time, eh?" He chuckled softly, trying to make light out of how awkward we both felt.

"Oh my god, don't." I managed to laugh at myself whilst covering my face with my hands to cover what had to be obvious blushing.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." 

"You can say that, you weren't the one that did it!" 

"I was still the one that ate a mouthful of your hair, so I think we're pretty even." He smirked as I brought myself to look back up at him once more.

"You might have some better luck today." 

"Oh, really?" Q raised an eyebrow, thinking that I was suggesting something rather than looking at their work sheet for the day. I turned the sheet that I was reading around so he could have a look. "Oh, my bad." 

"Kissing strangers was one made up for your guys' pleasure, wasn't it?" I wanted to see him squirm to such a question but instead he grinned mischievously before tapping his nose and walking towards the table.

"You wanna do something else tonight?" He asked as I collected some sheets and joined him at the table.

"Sure, what do you have in mind?" 

"A couple of old buddies are having a party for a friend moving back into town. You down?" He questioned, yet I stammered over the thought in my head, wondering if meeting endless amounts of his friends was a wise thing to do as a second date. We still barely knew each other, after all. "If that's not your thing we could do something else?"

"No, no. It's your friend, I don't want you to miss out." I started, but I was still going to gently decline his offer to join him.

"Great, it starts at 8, but we could grab something to eat first?" He continued, obviously not picking up on my tone of not really wanting to go.

"Yeah, sure." I sighed lightly, not wanting to be a part of this. I did like him, sure I did, but the last thing that I wanted to do was get close to someone and everything and everyone around them for that to change again.

"Morning future love birds" Sal announced as he walked into the room. Seeming a much bubblier greeting than the first few times I had been greeted. I guess we finally bonded slightly yesterday. Which I wasn't complaining about, he seemed very cold at first that it almost made me uncomfortable. "How was the big date last night?" He turned towards me. 

"It was great." I replied, being genuine. Other than the kiss part, but that part was to remain left out.

"He didn't get too drunk and make an ass of himself then?" 

"Nope, he was very well behaved, actually." I smiled.

"Don't listen to him, I wouldn't have gotten drunk." Q added into the conversation.

"Yeah, not on the first date. Maybe the second or third" Sal lifted an eyebrow to me, and I saw Q shaking his head whilst letting out a small chuckle.

Joe and Murr now entered the room together, Joe flashing me a smile as he saw me sat quietly on my own.

"You guys ready? We were supposed to be on set ten minutes ago." 

"You kidding? If we get down there ten minutes late people will be shocked that we're there early." Joe laughed.

"We're all looking at Sal when we say this, by the way. He can sometimes almost be two hours late." Murray interjected.

"And look at me, here before you." Sal scoffed back at Murr's comment.

"So come on!" I announced, as I gathered my things and made my way to the door, hoping that they were all following my lead some time today.

As we got down to set, the guys were filming intros and such as I mingled with the rest of the cast.

"Do you mind if we throw you into this bit?" One of the writers said. 

"Huh?" I asked, confused on how I'd help in this situation.

"We need to fill up chairs so he can't find his target as easily." He replied. I looked around at the half empty food court, now seeing Q making his way out. And for a moment I couldn't help but think that this was set up to happen by the other guys. 

"So I just go and sit there?" 

"Pretty much! Get out there!" He answered enthusiastically, so I made my way out to go and sit down, without Q noticing me just yet. 

After the began filming, I watched as Q approached a few people, gut wretchingly asking, or hinting to kiss them on the cheek without finding his target after have given out many kisses. He stood on the spot, scouring the room until his eyes landed on mine and he sniggered like he clicked that I was the obvious suspect chosen by the guys - which I was not - but I acted as casually as I could as he made his way up to me, until he stood before me, a much bigger fumbling mess than I was used to. Yet knowing he didn't have to introduce himself, he went straight in with a line.

"I bet you a dollar.. That I can kiss you without touching your lips"

"That’s impossible." I giggled, feeling a little weird knowing that many eyes were on me right now but still rolling with it nonetheless.

"Ah, fuck it, keep the dollar." Q announced, throwing the dollar onto the table before leaning in quickly, kissing me but making sure to incorporate his tongue.   
"Surely I should still get a win for that?" Q said slightly cockily, whilst looking at the cameras, obviously to the guys response via his ear piece. 

I shook my head at the table, although laughing at the situation, for once knowing that something like that would have happened.

After Q's turn, I returned back to set.

"I can't believe he did that." Their producer, Chay laughed.

"What happened to the cheek only rule?" I laughed back.

"I guess he knew that he could get away with it. It was a great shot, though!" She smiled before going back to her place.

As the afternoon shoot drew to a close, Q's offer to grab some food before going to the party that I dreaded the thought of was still to stand, so he drove me to a small diner where we ordered endless amounts of fries and engaged in small talk.

"Sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier." Q said from across the booth that we were sat in.

"No, no, don't worry about it. All in good light." 

"Nice to know I'm slowly cracking away some of that ice." He winked.

"What ice?" I chuckled.

"Yeah yeah. Don't even try me with that." He smirked at my comment. "It was a lot more fun than kissing your hair, that's for sure." 

"I guess it wasn't so bad. Even though you added tongue on our first kiss, but whatever." 

"Is tongue really that frowned upon on a first kiss? Because I think it might answer where I've been going wrong all these years" He joked.

"It's a little intense. But I think for the most part you get away with it. You sort of give of this intense, masculine energy about yourself. It almost seems expected, no offence." 

"I'm not sure how to take that?" He laughed.

"Some girls like it, some girls don't. Sexual aggressiveness is usually enjoyed by women, though."

"So you think I'm sexually aggressive, eh?" He quizzed.

"I think you very well could be. Why, am I wrong?"

He wiggled his eyebrows in response. 

"Depends if you're the type of girl that enjoys it or not." He replied smoothly. I repeated his same suggestive response with eyebrow movement, whilst the sexual tension was becoming evident and the eye contact nothing but heavy.

"That's awfully presumptuous of you." 

"Maybe presumptuous is allowed when there's been more than one date and it's still going well." 

"Maybe" I smirked. "It'll take a least three to find out, though." 

"Wouldn't that make tonight our lucky third?" He lifted an eyebrow. But my face obviously killed the moment, because I had just remembered that I hadn't let him know that I wouldn't be attending the party tonight. "Too far?"

"No, not at all. It's just. I was going to tell you, but I was gonna probably not be going to the party tonight.." 

"Why?" 

"It's just. Second date and meeting your friends. If this doesn't work out I don't want to make things.." 

"Ah, I get it, no I get it. You're right. I probably shouldn't have suggested something that big so soon."

"Another time though, yeah?"

"Yeah, another time." he smiled softly but I could see on his face that he was disappointed still. I began pulling out my purse to pay for the food that I had ordered when Q looked at me with a less than pleased expression. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm paying for my half of the meal, what does it look like?" I chuckled.

"Nonsense." He replied, before pulling out his wallet. "It was my idea, it's on me." 

"As much as I appreciate the chivalry and all, it's only a couple of French fries." I said as he tried all attempts to not allow me to place my money onto the table. 

"Excuse me, miss?" Q waved his arm at a waitress walking past our table. "My date here seems to think she can pay for a date that I decided to bring her on. If you catch her trying to pay can you please politely decline her attempts?" 

The waitress began smiling as I tried to stand my ground.

"Of course, sir. I'll be sure to keep an eye out." She flashed me a quick smile before she took the bill and payment from our table.

"I can't believe you said that to her, you're such a jerk" I giggled, shaking my head in disbelief at his lack of shame.

"It worked thought, didn't it?" He winked.

 

-

 

Upon returning to my apartment, Q walked me up to my door once again.

"So.. I hope you don't hate me for this, but I'm actually gonna kiss you this time." He said, voice thick with sarcasm. I scrunched my face with embarrassment, recalling the previous experience at this very door.

"Oh my god, please can we not keep bringing this up." 

"Only if you kiss me." He raised his eyebrows awaiting an answer. After the embarrasment had faded, I looked up at him and nodded slowly, followed by him taking a step closer to me. Placing his hands on the sides of my face, he leant in gently, his lips now meeting my own. It was short but sweet, leaving me wanting nothing but more, but that wouldn't be something that I'd openly express to him just yet.

"Go, get to your party." I smiled up at him as he pulled back.

"Sure you don't wanna come?" He asked once more.

"I'm sure." I pulled a fake smile, feeling slightly guilty for letting him go on his own. "I'll see you back at work." I said, as I turned and slowly made my way into my apartment, listening to him get into his car and pull away.

 

 

A few hours later, as I was making my way to bed, I noticed a quiet tapping on the front door. As I crept along the hallway, I opened the door to see Q now stood before me.

"Oh good, you're awake" he smiled once I had opened the door fully. "I made sure to knock quietly just in case."

"I had noticed. What are you doing here so late?" I questioned, wondering why he had come back when he was supposed to be at a party of someone that he had known much longer than me.

"Well, because you didn't want to come, I decided to bring the party here instead." He replied, pulling a bottle of drink from behind his back.

"I guess I better let you in, then." I laughed, stepping back to let him in. "But you have to be quiet, my roommate is sleeping." I said, walking towards my bedroom, him entering seconds later. As Q sat on the end of my bed, I noticed that I hadn't got any glasses, so I went into the kitchen to fetch them, and upon my return I had noticed that Q had gotten a lot more comfortable, removing his coat and jacket. I had never really seen him without multiple layers on before, and I had to admit, his arms were going to be a weakness of mine. "So, how was the party?" I asked as I sat down next to him on the bed, watching him, fumble with the lid to the bottle.

"It was good, didn't stay long though, evidently." He replied, as he poured the fizz into both of the glasses I was holding.

"As long as I didn't pull you away from any fun." I said, handing him a glass once he had placed the bottle on the night stand.

"I think this is a good enough option of fun as any." He smirked at me before taking a sip of his drink.

"Sitting on my bed drinking $6 wine is your version of fun?" I laughed at his comment.

"Yeah." His voice barely audible. "And it was $7.. actually." 

"Oh my bad, I'm terribly sorry." I nudged his arm, giggling.

"You look nice tonight, by the way." 

"I'm literally in my pyjamas, I was just about to go to bed!" 

"So? Doesn't mean you don't look nice."

"How much have you had to drink tonight?" I quizzed.

"Well considering that I drove here.... Just about this." He replied, holding his glass up before him.

"Well then thank you. That's actually really sweet of you." 

"No problem, sweetness is what I'm known for after all, after all." He replied sarcastically, which cause me to laugh. Although he had somewhat of a sweetness to him, that's definitely not the main thing you'd notice about him until you got to know him better. "Oh no, wait, you wouldn't think that, what was I to you again? Sexually aggressive?" 

"Not gonna lie, you do give off the whole intimidating rough around the edges thing."

"Intimidating enough for you to be sat alone in your bedroom with me, though?" 

"Hey, I never said that you intimidated me." 

"So you are one of those girls that's into sexual aggressiveness. I knew it. It's always the quiet ones." 

"You say it like girls would enjoy telling a guy what to do and how to do it in the bedroom. You need a little aggression." 

"I mean, I've had no complaints." He shrugged smugly.

"Ew." I replied, taking a big sip of my drink.

"I'm just saying." 

"How extremely cocksure and unmodest of you." I replied, meaning my words but not completely thrown off by what he had said. I threw him a quick grin to make sure that he wouldn't take the comment to heart.

"I was just throwing it out there" he chuckled.

"I'd trust the receivers word over the giver's, I'm afraid." 

"So why don't you be a receiver, then?" His comment made my eyes widen in shock. It was such a bold suggestion that I wasn't expecting. But after all, I had suggested things could go further on our third date, and he must have taken that comment in his stride.

"You're overly certain of yourself, aren't you?" His arrogant yet confident manner being extremely there, but for some reason it seemed to turn me on. Perhaps because he was only this way sexually, and not a douche bag all of the time. He took my glass out of my hand, before putting it to the side along with his.

"Maybe." He replied, before he leant in and placed his lips on mine. The kiss was soft at first, but he soon started to intensity it when I felt his tounge carress my own. He was definitely an amazing kisser, which lead me to realize that he was about to pull all of his best moves to try and prove a point. And that is exactly where I was going to have a little fun of my own.

He began trailing kisses down my neck and back up again, nibbling certain spots in between, and although it felt more than good, the last thing that I was going to do was let him know that. Maybe my idea of fun was questionable, but at the same time, this could result in him trying ever harder, therefore a better attempt at bringing me pleasure. 

As our make out session continued, I reached the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head, running my fingers down and through the small amount of chest hair he had. Only as he was about to repay the gesture to me, I pulled away slightly.

"Do you.. mind if I leave my shirt on, maybe?" I asked, not feeling extremely comfortable to be completely naked in front of him just yet. I wasn't the tiniest girl in the world - nor the biggest - but I was definitely slightly uncomfortable with my own body.

"..sure, if that's what you want?" Q replied, not mad but not really too sure on how to respond. I guess guys would rarely understand how insecure a girl can really feel about herself. "But I can, you know.. put my hand up it still, right?..shit, such a weird choice of words.." 

I laughed, feeling more comfortable in his nervousness for some weird reason. 

"Yes, you can." I smiled, as he brought his lips back to mine once more. I felt his hands on my waist under my shirt, before they slowly lifted higher. He palmed my breasts over my bra, before I myself reached around the back and unclasped my bra, pulling it off through my sleeves. His hands immediately returned to my boobs, squeezing and tracing circles around my nipples. Again, it felt good, but I wasn't going to let him know.

He pulled the strings on the waistband of my pants to loosen them, before pushing me so I was laid on my back with my legs hanging off the end of the bed still. He stood before me at the end of the bed, and pulled my pants off before kneeling before me on the floor. Parting my legs slowly, he pulled my panties to one side before I felt the heat of his breath on my core. As I was about to lift my head to take a look at what was going on between my thighs, I felt his tongue attatch himself to me, swirling and dancing in all different motions. Enough for me to throw my head back onto my pillow, covering my mouth with my hand to halt any kind of moan that I needed so desperately to let out. 

"You good?" Q asked, looking up at me still between my legs.

"Huh?" I asked, still in a haze from what had just happened, and more importantly because he stopped before I wanted him to.

"You're just.. Very quiet. A little feedback would be nice." He chuckled, which sounded like he was very nervous that he wasn't leading up to his declared expectations of himself.

"Eh.." I replied, now extremely in role of playing with him.

"What?" He replied instantly, like he was shocked by my response.

"I mean.. I guess I'll give input when there's input to give.." 

"You're playing." He still sounded shocked, but he could tell something was up. But that doesn't mean I was about to stop, definitely not if he was just about to up his game.

"Am I?" I smirked mischievously as I laid my head back down. And that was when I felt his fingers hook under the waist band of my panties, pulling them clean off. I felt his breath return once more, because his wet, warm tongue trailed itself over my clit. Reeling in the pleasure once more, I knew it was about to be intensified when I felt him run a finger down my folds, before slowly pushing it into me.

"Fuck" I moaned through an exhale, not being able to contain it this once.

"What was that?" He chuckled, the vibrations of his voice adding a delightful affect along with his finger.

He added another finger, slowly pumping them in and out whilst he continued his assault with his tongue. I grabbed the sheets in my hands, wanting nothing more than to run and tug them through his hair, but I didn't want him to stop. God, I didn't want him to stop.

Minutes later, he pulled away, and I heard the sound of him unbuckling his belt before looking up, watching him rid himself of his jeans. I could see his growing erection through the fabric of his boxers, and I smiled to myself when he had noticed me watching him. He returned the smirk, before reaching for his jeans and pulling out his wallet, grabbing a shiny piece of material that was a condom. I continued to watch as he swiftly removed his boxers, still in shock when I saw his length no longer confined by material. He was definitely more than adequate in the trouser compartment.

He slid the condom down his length, before grabbing a hold of my thighs, pulling me to the end of the bed so my legs were held against his stomach and chest. I felt him stroke me softly with the tip of his penis, before entering himself slowly. 

"Ah.." I half moaned, half winced at how big he was. I hadn't had sex in a while, so to jump in with someone as big as he was, I was half expecting to feel that way.

"You're so fucking tight, fuck." He pulled out slowly, before thrusting in once more.

"Wait.." I announced, needing a moment to compose myself.

"What?" Q once again seemed confused by my actions, but I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, both mentally and physically.

"Just.. Go slower. You're just.. Fuck." 

"Again, what?" He chuckled once more, obviously noticing that I was experiencing an amount of pleasure, but still listening to my needs by not continuing because I was clearly in a small amount of pain.

"You're big. Just .. Oh my god, shut up." I replied once I realized he was enjoying my reaction all too much. My response causing another laugh to fall from his lips.

He continued with his thrusts, slowly at first until he noticed when I had relaxed more, which is when he started to increase his speed. My attempt at trying to regain composure throughout the pleasure was long gone out of the window at this point, and I was a withering moaning mess beneath him. Groans and pants escaped from Q's mouth, sending tingles down my spine from the sound alone.

"Mmm Brian.." I moaned as he hit a spot that sent heat waves through my body, causing my body to pulsate as my orgasm took over my body.

"That good? You like that?" He responded, voice sounding weaker than ever and I knew it wasn't long before he would orgasm also.

"So good.." I panted, as his groans appeared to get louder, before he let out a growl as he climaxed.

"Fuck.." He moaned, as he thrusted a few more times, riding out his high, before retracting himself slowly and planting himself onto the bed next to me to catch his breath. I felt a dull ache between my thighs where he had just been moments before, almost shocked at how he was better than what he had made himself out to sound.

"You definitely didn't prove me wrong, by the way.." 

"Is that an official compliment from the receiver?" He mocked from our conversation earlier on.

"Yeah... Yeah it definitely is." I chuckled.


	6. The morning after.

"Morning" Q said through his husky morning voice. I had barely been awake for five seconds, but it seemed that he had been awake for a while. 

"What time is it?" I asked, looking towards the window, noticing from the daylight that it was already later than when I had usually left for work.

"Relax, you just slept with your boss, remember?" He smugly yet jokingly responded. I felt my cheeks begin to warm in that moment as I remembered last night. The last thing I had planned on doing was sleeping with him so soon. Once you start sleeping with someone, that's when you become attached. At least for a girl anyway. For all knew, he could have just wanted that. He was a guy, after all. And I always had a hard time trusting them. 

"And so you're just going to tell the other guys not to fire me just because I slept with you last night?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty much." He replied, as he pulled the covers off of him, and scoured the floor for his shirt and pants. I was a little taken aback by his comment, so I didn't respond, which was when Q looked over his shoulder at me and chuckled. "I'm kidding." He continued laughing. "Just tell them you had car troubles." 

"And what about the part where we turn up together?" 

"I picked you up because you had no other way of getting into work?" 

"But why wouldn't I just call a mechanic?" 

"Why do you have to over think everything?" He laughed.

"Sal will know." 

"Sal won't care." Q replied.

"But I'll care." I responded.

"Why?" 

"Because, I don't do this kind of thing all of the time. It's embarrassing!" 

"And you think I do?" He retorted, probably getting annoyed that I was making this into a much bigger deal than what it actually was. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Do you?" I quizzed, looking him dead in the eyes. He sighed, before pulling his shirt over his head and turning towards me.

"Honestly, there was a time when I did. But not anymore." 

"You did it last night." 

"Yeah, with you. Not some random chick of the street."

"You've just met me. I'm technically a random chick you. Besides, if it wasn't me then it would have most likely been the other person that would have gotten the job instead of me."

"I don't understand why you're mad at me, I didn't force you into anything." 

"But you're joking about it!" 

"Look, I don't know what some douche bag did to you before to make you so insecure, but that's not me. That's not what I'm about. I didn't sleep with you because you were a target, or however you're making yourself out to sound. If I just wanted sex, I'd go to a bar, or I'd go to a club. I wouldn't choose someone that I had to face at work every single day." 

"So I'm insecure now?" Heck, I even know that I'm insecure, but it's only okay when I say it.

"You just overlooked everything that I just said." He said, looking me in the eyes, awaiting a response that he never got. "I'm gonna get to work, you coming?" 

"Nah, my car is magfically fixed." I looked at him, I could see that he was fed up, but I felt angry. Angry at myself for letting myself get into such a situation. I was supposed to move here to focus on my work, and I had already got myself into loggerheads with a guy once more, and that is something that I told myself I wouldn't do. Maybe I just couldn't be as independent as I had hoped to be.

After Q had left my apartment, I showered and was on my way to work, I stopped to pick up a sandwich on the way, knowing that I was already late, so there really was no reason to start rushing now. 

As I pulled up, I saw Q's jeep parked, and I began to dread seeing him. 

Walking into the office, I sat down in an empty seat next to Sal.

"So how was last night?" He looked at me, smirking as if he was a girlfriend that wanted all of the sordid details. And though the details of last nights events were indeed sordid, the last thing that Sal would know were exactly that.

"What, oh fine. It was okay." I replied, trying not to seem shifty, but I knew I seemed the opposite. I was terrible at lying.

"Just okay?" 

"Do we really have to talk about this right now? I have a ton of work to be doing." I said, as I collected some papers before me and moved across the room.

As I looked up, I saw Q - who was still in yesterdays clothes - sit down in the seat that I had just been sitting in. I saw them exchanging a few words before they both looked over at me. Q then got up, and began walking towards me.

"I'm sorry..?" 

"Huh?" I turned slightly, so that I was now face to face with him.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, seeming genuine.

"Sorry for what?" 

"...I don't know. I just thought that was the right thing to say in this moment." 

"Well do you think you need to be saying sorry?" 

"I don't. But I worry that you want me to."

In that moment I knew that I had overracted. I was just disappointed in myself for letting this happen again. I didn't want to fall for a guy, especially one as charming and slick and Q. Those were the types of guys that made me anxious the most.

"No, I'm sorry. I overreacted. You were right, I am insecure. Especially with guys. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"So does that mean my unneeded apology is unneedingly accepted?" 

"That's not a word, but yes." I smirked. 

"So does this mean you'll come out to lunch with me on break?" 

"Sure." I replied.

-

As we were closing up on set for lunch, I was packing away some of the microphones when I saw Q and Sal whispering to one another once again. It wasn't the same as how the two of them would usually communicate. Today seemed much more different. Whether I be paranoid of Q telling him about last night or not, it would have still gained my suspicion. After packing away the last one, I decided to make my way up to the pair of them.

"Hey, you ready to go?" I smiled towards him. Q then looked at Sal, looking as awkward as ever.

"Actually.. Can I take a rain check on lunch? Something came up and I.."

"Right.." I looked at Sal, and then back at him. "I get it, I'll see you later." I turned and made my way to my car, before he even had the chance to respond.

Maybe Sal had told him that I acted like an unreasonable bitch when he had asked me a question as simple as "how was your night?" 

I guess I couldn't blame them for wanting to say clear. I had to rethink my way of handling these scenarios. That's if I could even stay at this job, as my time here was already much harder than I had anticipated, and that's not talking about the work.


	7. Taking it slowly.

Deciding that I didn't want to face the guys anymore today, I decided to head straight home and comfort myself with an early - but much needed - glass of wine. I can't believe that I had been so stupid to think that a guy as smooth as Brian Quinn could actually be capable of real, human emotion. Feeling like an idiot was an understatement, I felt completely and utterly humiliated and disappointed with myself. Not only had I begun to have feelings for this guy, but I had also already slept with him. There was no coincidence that he had become disinterested since we had had sex, leading me to believe that he was, in fact, like every other guy.

My phone had started to ring from across the room. Checking the caller ID, it was Shay, the producer of the show, most likely wondering where I was. I should have definitely told her that I wasn't returning to work this afternoon, as she was probably relying on me to be there, but the thought of even talking to or being around anything involved with the show, or the guys, made my skin almost crawl at the moment. I waited for the ringtone to stop sounding before I picked up the phone, sending her a quick text explaining that I had suddenly came down with an illness that in fact, didn't even exist, nor did I have. I just needed time alone. 

It was only in that same evening when there was a knock at the door when I really dreaded who would be on the other side. 

Getting up to answer the door, I was in no surprise at who was standing on the other side.

"What are you doing here?" I sighed as I leant against the open door.

"Is that a way to greet a guest?" Q replied, chuckling slightly to relieve the awkwardness.

"Calling yourself a guest would imply that I'm going to let you in." 

"Well.. are you gonna invite me in?" 

"Hmm.. I don't know. I might be busy." 

"Your pajamas say otherwise." He laughed whilst pointing at my outfit.

"I could be going out. You know, extremely last minute plans." I mocked him from earlier on.

"And are you?" 

"Maybe. Or maybe I am busy here... In my pajamas." 

"And what possibly might you be doing?" 

"I didn't say I was doing anything. But I could have company." I lied, but I don't know if it was the glass of wine going to my head, but in that moment I'll admit it, I was feeling rather petty.

"Oh." He said, face falling from the smile he had from attempting to crack a few jokes.

"So is there a reason why you're at my door?" I asked, noticing a bag in his hands containing something.

"I just wanted to give you this." He said, handing the bag over to me. "But if you have company, I'll get going. Enjoy your night." He said, turning to head back to his car, not even giving me the chance to say goodbye even if I wanted to. I slowly closed the door, walking into the kitchen and placing the bag onto the counter, before taking a peak inside. It was my purse, from the night that I had been mugged. Pulling the purse out of the bag, I looked inside, which also contained my passport. Had he really tracked down the guy that had stolen my things, just to get them back and return them to me? 

I quickly turned around, heading for the front door once again, hoping to catch Q before be left, but as I opened the door I caught a glimpse of his car pulling out and making it's way down the street. How could I have once again been so very wrong about this man? There was only going to be so long that he would allow me to treat him this way before he decided to call his attempts a day. I had to find a way to make it up to him, and tomorrow would be the day I would do such a thing.

-

I pulled up on set the following morning, into the car park of the store the guys would be working in today. As I headed into the still shut store, I walked through members of the crew setting up the filming equipment, and continued to head out to the back. But as I got there, I noticed that Sal, Murr and Joe were the only ones at work.

"Where's Q?" I asked. 

"Isn't it your job to keep track of us?" Joe joked back to my question. Whereas Sal just sat looking uneasy beside him. He definitely knew something, most likely his whereabouts. He and Q were much closer, and would always tell each other everything the moment that it happened.

"So do you know where he is?" I sat next to Sal, eyeing up his face, some would say putting him on the spot.

"Does it matter?" He replied, stumbling over his words.

"Well.. Kinda.. We have to start filming at some point." I half lied. I wanted to find an opportunity to talk to him first.

"He.. He went out with a girl last night, I drove past his house earlier and his car wasn't there.. So I can only assume he had a late one last night." My stomach immediately doing somersaults at the information Sal had just shared. 

"Alright. Nice." I said, patting my thighs before standing up. As I gathered the itinerary for today, I turned around to see Q was now with the group. Walking up next to him, arms touching, I continued to look ahead as I mirrored him making a coffee. "Have fun at your girlfriends last night?" 

"What?" He almost choked on the sip he had just taken.

"Heard you had a fun night last night." 

"Heard you did too." He said, turning around and leaning against the table so that he was now facing me. I looked up at him, almost not being able to hide the confusion on my face before I remembered the little white lie I had told last night. 

"Oh, yeah, that. I did. It was great." 

"Great." He replied, before walking to join the others. No sincerity in his words at all.

I didn't know how to go about my plan. Of course I was thankful that he would do such a thoughtful thing, but it was like he would always do a shitty thing for every sweet thing that he did. On one hand I wanted to say thank you, and on the other I wanted nothing more to do than to yell.   
I was pulled from my thoughts when I realized that Q had noticed I was watching him the whole time, our eyes catching the others, knowing that we were just as stubborn as the other. 

Watching the guys film for the rest of the day was okay, much better than the daunting feeling that I had felt yesterday, but every time Q was up, all I could picture was him with her. My feelings definitely becoming something that I was not at all pleased with.

When the day drew to a close, I was climbing into my car, about to shut the door when I heard Q yelling something towards my direction. I stayed where I was, leaving the door ajar as I saw him making his way closer in my rear view mirror. 

"She's not my girlfriend." He panted, as he opened my door wider. 

"What?" 

"Last night. The girl. She wasn't my girlfriend." 

"Congratulations, now I have to go." I said, trying to pull my door shut, but he stuck his hand in the way stopping me from doing so.

"You can't keep doing this." His voice much more sterner than I was used to.

"Doing what?" I raised an eyebrow.

"That. Pretending not to give a damn. You so give a damn." 

"Oh honey.." I replied sarcastically, but in my mind I knew he was right.

"Quit being a cold bitch for five minutes, seriously?" I raised my eyebrows at such a bold suggestion. "I like you, Serena. You drive me fucking crazy but I like you. God knows why." He said, although through tone I noticed the joke, even though he had every right to be serious. "And I know you feel the same way." He then stood there, just looking me straight in the face. I couldn't form a coherent sentence, all I could do was look at him whilst I thought about how I would respond to that. "This is usually the part where you would say something back to that." He laughed nervously.

"I just.. don't know what to say to that. I do like you, but sometimes I hate the way you act." 

"What do you mean the way that I act?"

"The meaninglessness sex with girls and stuff." 

"Didn't you have a dude in your apartment with you last night?" He retorted, offended that I would say such a thing when it seemed like I had been doing the exact same.

"No, I lied. I wanted to piss you off." 

Q just stared at me like he wanted to say something, like he wanted to ask questions, and to know why, but instead he just shook his head. 

"How about this. You and me. From this point onwards no other people. Nothing official, just a couple of dates to see where this could go. Does that sound fair to you?" 

I looked at him for a moment whilst I pondered the thought of him and I 'dating'.

"Okay.. but we're not girlfriend and boyfriend."

"Alright, so that sorts it then. I'll come by yours later to take you out. Deal?" 

Not really the traditional way of dating or asking someone on a date, but this version seemed much more appealing to me.

"I'll see you tonight then." I let out a smirk that I was trying my best to contain, as he stepped back so I could close my door and pull out of the car park. I just hope this wouldn't end in disaster.


	8. Let me watch you.

We had arrived at our official - yet not so official - first date. Things had been going pretty smoothly. Drinks were being poured as we waited for our meals. But I noticed a slight change in Q, however. I watched as he tapped his leg under the table, his body moving slightly with the rhythm.

"Tap your foot any harder and you're gonna make a hole in the ground." I stated, peering over my wine glass.

"Sorry." He chuckled, dare I say.. nervously?

"You're totally nervous, aren't you?" I smirked, almost bewildered. Surely he was used to going on not one, but several dates.

"What? No." He dropped the knife that he was fumbling with onto the table, almost sounding defensive.

"You so are." I grinned, liking that I had that affect on him.

"It's just, been a while. You know?" 

"Do I really make you that nervous?" I quizzed.

"Not you. Well not really, sure I'm terrified that I'm gonna piss you off again somehow considering I've been great at that in the past, but it's really not you."

"So what is it then?" 

"Just the whole date scenario. I'm awful at it." 

"I'm sure you're used to it by now." My comment coming out before I really realized what I had actually said. That was only okay when I said it inside my head. God dammit Serena. He looked up at me, those big brown eyes looking softly into mine. I would have thought he would have gotten angry by such a comment, but his eyes told another story. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.." 

"Nah, it's fine." He sighed. 

"No, no it's not. I really shouldn't have." 

"I guess I hate that you think so little of me. It makes me wonder why you're even sat there." His comment made me freeze in my tracks. He was right? If I liked him so much to be out on a date with him, then why was I spending my time doubting him and calling him out on things that I wasn't even 100% certain that he had already been doing. This was all just assumption, and I had to stop treating him this way.

"It's not you, Brian.." I reached out to grasp his hand. "I've just had bad experiences in the past, ones that shouldn't have any affect on whatever this is that we have, but for some reason I allow it. I allow the thoughts, and I allow it to come out of my mouth. If I was even fairly certain that you were this way, then I wouldn't be sat here right now." 

"You mean that?" 

"Of course I do." I smiled softly, gaining one from him in return as he squeezed my hand gently. 

 

After we had finished our meal, we made our way back to Q's house. The first time I had ever been here. Nowhere near the bachelor pad that I had been expecting.

"You can take your coat off, you know." He laughed as he brought in two glasses of wine, taking me out of my trance of taking in the surroundings of his home.

"Your place is actually really cute." I smiled, pulling my coat off and placing it on the arm of the couch. 

"Cute probably wasn't what I was aiming for, but I'll take it." 

"Not cute as in girly cute. Cute as in 'nicer than what I would expect a 40-year-old man living alone would be' type." I winked, letting him know I was playing.

"Oh she went there." Brian played offence to my comment. "In all seriousness though, you do have a lethal mouth sometimes." He swigged his drink.

"How so?" I questioned as I sat down next to him.

"You're not afraid of saying what you think, how you feel." 

"Is that a bad thing?' I asked, starting to feel a little self conscious.

"I mean, not to me. To someone else? Maybe." 

"Oh." I said, not really knowing how to take that comment.

"Don't be offended. There is nothing hotter than a girl that can stand her ground. Why else would I be so adamant on chasing you?" 

"So I'm hot now?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You've always been hot. Just when you have that pulsing vein in between your eyebrows, you're much hotter." 

"What pulsing ve..." I said touching my forhead, before I saw Brian erupt into laughter, which is when I realised the sarcasm in his voice. "Hey!" I yelled, shoving his arm, causing his drink to pour all over his shirt. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I put my drink down, taking his empty glass from him.

"Serena, it's cool, it's just a little drink" he laughed as he tried his best to not let the loose liquid drop onto his couch.

"No it's not, that's red wine, it's going to stain!" I exclaimed, pulling him to stand up. "White wine!" 

"What about white wine, what?" Brian asked, not hiding any ounce of confusion in his voice.

"We need to put white wine onto the red wine to get the stain out!"

"So what, are you gonna do, toss that over me too?" He joked.

"No, take it off!" I grabbed the bottom of his shirt, peeling it off his body as the wet caused it to stick to his skin. I took the shirt to his sink, as he fetched a bottle of white wine from the cupboard, opened it and handed it to me. As I poured it over the stained fragments of his shirt, I heard his laugh coming from next to me. "What's so funny?"

"You are. I've never known someone to get into such a tizzy over some wine on a damn shirt." 

"I just didn't want to ruin your shirt." I replied, scrubbing at the stain.

"I have plenty of other shirts, believe it or not." I said, as he placed his hands onto my shoulders, giving them a quick rub.

I turned around, now face to face and extremely close to him.

"So you're not mad?" 

"Do I look mad?" I shook my head as he grinned, now leaning in to kiss me gently. As the kiss started to deepen, I wrapped my arms around his neck, just as he pulled away slightly. "Bedroom?" He whispered, eyes trailing from my eyes to my lips. I nodded as he picked me up, his touch causing me to giggle as his arms wrapped around my ribcage.

Heading up the stairs, he used his leg to barge his door open, placing me down onto my feet as soon as we made it into the room. He began kissing down my neck, walking me backwards slowly until I felt the bed hit the back of my calves. I grabbed the bottom of my dress, pulling it up and over my head, leaving me in nothing but my underwear. The first time I had let Q actually see me without clothes without having to turn the light off first, but for some reason tonight I had felt extremely comfortable around him. I don't know whether that be the wine, or the fact that things were slowly being considered more serious, but either way I would take this opportunity of feeling comfortable with myself. 

Q leant in once more, kissing me passionately, sparing no tongue as he began moving his kisses along my jawline, down to my neck and then over my shoulder. I felt his arms snake around my back, fumbling with the material of my bra before seconds later I felt it pop open. As the fabric dropped to the floor, I placed myself onto the bed, sliding up slightly so below my knees were folded over the end of the bed. Q looked down at me with a lecherous grin, taking in the sight of my body for the first time, and the way he took me in made me feel more confident than ever. 

I lightly grasped my breast in one hand, noticing Q watching me out of the corner of my eye as he played with his belt. As he pulled it off, he worked at his fly before his jeans hit the floor, his erection now evident through the material of his boxers. 

"Show me what you do when you're alone." Q's voice appeared, quiet and raspy.

"W-what?" I asked, leaning up on my elbows.

"I would like to see.. What you do when I'm not around.."

Brian could only grin broadly in response as my hand travelled from my chest, down to the top of my underwear. My eyes flicked down to the bulge in his underwear, back up to his face, watching as he licked his lips salaciously. I leant back once more, closing my eyes as I lowered my hands into my panties. Slowly beginning to rub myself as I knew standing before my closed eyes was Brian gaining intense satisfaction from it. After a few minutes, I started to become more comfortable with the action I was performing, letting out a few moans as I continued to play with myself. 

I felt hands touch my hips, which is when I decided to open my my eyes, face to face with Q as he pecked me quickly. He grabbed my waist, pulling me so that I was now resting my head on his pillow, before he moved so he was now knelt between my legs. He tucked his fingers under the waist band of my underwear, sliding them off, licking his lips as he once more was met with new parts of my body to openly explore. 

"Carry on." He said, just above a whisper, placing his hands on my inner thighs, spreading them further apart. I raised my knees slightly, giving myself better access. He watched as one of my hands fondled with my breast, whilst the other dove between my legs as I began rubbing furiously.

"Is this what you had in mind?" I bit my lip, gratified that my activities had an intense affect on myself as well as him. "You know.." I purred, drawing his attention back up to my face. "If you can't wait until I'm done here, you're more than free to join in." I said, noticing that his hands were twitching, as if he was refraining himself from touching himself also. 

Q looked for a moment as if though he was trying to fight his urges, but another glance at my rapidly moving fingers forced him to surrender to his own needs.

Once we were both naked, I caught an amused glance at Q's feet.

"Is the wearing of socks normally an integral part of your masturbatory habits?" 

He chuckled under his breath, before removing his socks and throwing them onto the floor with the rest of his clothes.

I tilted my head to indicate that he should get into bed next to me, and watched as he leant himself against the headboard also.

"Do you usually use some type of lube?" I questioned, not really entirely sure what went on when a guy had 'alone time'. 

"Uh, yeah, usually. But I don't think that I have any right now." He replied, which is when I had an idea of my own. I reached over and took one of his hands, and placed it between my legs, noticing the look on his face when he realized my intention. He slipped his fingers into my folds, which were soaked with desire, and liberally coated his hands in my juices. I threw my head back, and moaned deep at the intrusion, which was all I could do as I tried my hardest to resist jumping his bones, knowing that I no doubt would have the opportunity to do just that after our mutual 'demonstrations'. 

When he felt as though his hand was sufficiently lubricated, Q withdrew his fingers, eliciting a frustrated groan from myself, which soon turned into a groan of desire as I watched him move his slickened hand onto his cock and begin pumping at a steady rhythm. 

I slipped two fingers into myself, mirroring the pumping action of Q's hand, biting my lip as I watched his hand move up and down his shaft. I dropped my head back against the headboard, locking eyes with Q once more, which only made his hand work harder and faster. He let out a loud groan, and that was the moment I decided to move my spare hand to join the other, stroking my clit in time with pumping my fingers. 

I couldn't control the moans anymore, seeming almost constant, the combination of my own ministrations and the sight of him vigorously pleasuring himself was sending me closer and closer to the edge.

"Mmm, I'm so close." I ground out between moans.

"Ah, yeaah." Was the best that Q could manage in response.

My breath hitched in my throat as I began to feel the stirrings of what was sure to be an extremely powerful orgasm. I lifted my hand up that had been rubbing my clit, winding it around Q's neck as he all but slammed his lips against mine. I pushed my tongue into his mouth as I continued to rapidly thrust between my legs. As Q was enthusiastically returning the kiss, I ripped my mouth from his, throwing my head back as my body contracted from pure ecstasy, and watching was enough to send Brian into his own, grunting loudly as he spilled himself onto his stomach.

After a minute or two, I turned my head languidly towards Brian, a wide grin spreading across my face as I watched his panting steady.

"Well.." I laughed, feeling my cheeks become red at what we had just indulged ourselves in. 

"Well." He laughed back, before reaching for a tissue from the box on the nightstand to clean himself up. He discarded of the tissue and shuffled closer so that he could pull me into his arms. 

He rolled us over so that he was now settled comfortably on top of me, feeling his cock beginning to come back to life again.

"Eager, huh?" I smiled as I looked up sensually at him.

"Very eager." He said, as he leant down to kiss me. It didn't take long for the kiss to become passionate, as the desire that was so recently sated was awoken once again. 

Without breaking the kiss, Brian raised his hips and slipped inside my welcoming warmth, drawing a deep groan from my throat. Easily establishing a steady rhythm, Brian dropped his mouth to my neck, gently suckling at the soft skin he found there, whilst his hand travelled sensually up my side to caress my breast. 

I sighed contentedly, gripping his shoulders, rotating my hips against his, driving him to move harder and faster.

After a few minutes, we both felt the same familiar stirring of our oncoming orgasms. Q quickened his pace, and returned his mouth to mine as we rode out or climaxes together; not as intensely as before, but still extremely satisfying. 

After a few moments of recovering, he rolled us over so that I was now settled on top of him, rubbing my back soothingly as he placed a kiss to my forehead. I smiled and snuggled myself in closer to him, feeling myself slipping into slumber.


	9. Who?

At work the next day, I had been so extremely busy I hadn't even seen Q that much, just like I hadn't really seen him this morning after we had both overslept and made frantic rushes to get to work on time. Or somewhat on time as we were still both a half hour late. I still couldn't quite grasp what had actually happened last night. The last time that I had slept with Q, I had been too nervous to remove my shirt in front of him, so what made me so comfortable to do something like... I can't even say it. Not even in my head.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Murray walked in to the office behind me, with a container full of pasta.

"What? Nothing." I shook my head, completely unaware of the trance that I had taken myself of into whilst thinking about last nights... activities.

"The guys are coming, they were fighting over what they think you'd like for lunch." 

"Why would they be fighting over that?"

"Because Sal thinks you'd be more of a spaghetti girl, while Q thinks you'd enjoy pasta." 

"Aren't they both practically the same thing?" I asked, raising one eyebrow, confused on why that was the topic of debate.

"That's what I said." Murr replied, looking equally as confused. Just then I heard the loud voices of the guys returning from gathering a most likely hefty amount of food. You could always hear them coming, usually a long time before they were even near. They were always so loud and incredibly boisterous.

"Hey, I got you some lunch." Sal chimed as he entered the room, Q and Joe following behind him.

"We" Q corrected him as he sat opposite me at the table.

"Thank you." I replied, looking down at my meal that was not pasta nor spaghetti. No wonder they had taken so long.

As conversation flowed around the table, I couldn't bring myself to even look at Q. Every now and then I would feel his eyes on me, perhaps wanting my attention, but I was still feeling some type of way about what had happened in his bed the night prior. 

After everyone had finished their lunches, they began making their way down to the cars to take them to set again, but Q lingered around the office a little longer, still not saying a word, but once again I could feel his eyes on me.

"You're embarrassed, aren't you?" Q asked, and I finally was able to bring myself to look at him.

"What, no?" I replied, before I even thought about a way to respond that somewhat contained at least a little bit of truth.

"Don't lie. Is this about last night?" 

"I'm not embarrassed. It's just.."

"You're definitely embarrassed." he chuckled a bit, which made me relax, I was beginning to think he was taking it personally, rather than me just not being used to this type of stuff.

"It was just way out of my comfort zone. Like, you're supposed to just be able to look someone in the eye again after mutual masturbation with them?" 

Just then Sal walked into the room, eyes wide from what he had just overheard.

"As much as I don't want to interrupt whatever this is that I just interrupted, you guys need to come down so that we can leave." Sal stated, before he closed the door and left once more.

Q stood up and began walking to the door, as he held his hand to grasp the door handle, he stopped to look around at me.

"Loosen up a bit. You might even enjoy yourself." he said as he opened the door and left.

Loosen up. I feel like I had done way too much "loosening up" since I had arrived in New York. But, nonetheless, I had to agree with him. I definitely needed to relax a little bit. Not every new action deserved a bigger reaction. I just had to let myself experience new things.

Later that evening when the work day was over, we decided to stop by to grab some dinner. After coming back from the restroom, the guys were already seated, an empty seat sitting next to Q.

"I saved you a seat." He smiled at me softly as I sat down next to him.

"Thank y-" I looked up, startled at what my eyes had landed on.

"What? What is it?" Q asked, trying to focus his own sight at whatever I was looking at.

"Nothing." I shook my head as I sat down. "I just had a really bad cramp." 

After we had eaten, we were getting a couple of drinks in.

"Seriously, are you all good?" Q leant into me, voice low.

"I'm fine." I said, not looking him in the eyes at all.

"So then why do you keep eyeing the dude up at the bar?" 

"What? No I am not." 

"I see him checking you out too." 

"What exactly are you implying here?" I finally turned to face him.

"You tell me. You're the one preoccupied." 

"Can we just leave? Please?" 

"Why?" he questioned, looking in no way ready to leave just yet.

"Because I want to." I said, turning to look at the guy behind the bar once more.

"Who is he, Serena?" 

"It doesn't matter." I replied.

"You've been with him, haven't you?" 

"No, Brian. Please. Can we go?" 

"Tell me who he is first." 

"It's Bobby. The guy I was telling you about. The reason I moved away."


	10. Taxi

Q had finally taken my offer up on wanting to leave. Although his reasoning for leaving seemed the complete opposite to mine.

As we walked past the bar, I heard Bobby call out my name. I slowed my walking unknowingly, before Brian slowed also, turning to look at me. 

"Should I.. go and see what he wants?" I asked him, receiving a sigh from Q. He seemed in no mood to entertain me at this moment, let alone him.

Taking that as a somewhat go ahead, I turned around, nervously making my way up to Bobby.

"What are you doing here? I asked curiously.

"I'm working, what does it look like?" 

"Did you know I was here?" I asked.

"There's hundreds of bars in the city, how was I supposed to know that you were going to be here." 

"No, not the bar. Here. New York. Did you know I was here?" 

"It's hardly the best kept secret, Serena." he replied, before picking up a glass and filling it with an alcoholic beverage. "But you being here, right now? Perhaps it's the universes way of saying that I should be in your life." 

"You don't get that choice after what you did to me." 

"And what did I do to you?" 

"You left. I opened myself up to you and you just disappeared. That hardly makes you important enough to be a priority in my life." 

"And what if you're now a priority in mine?" 

"Then like I said, you don't get that choice." I said, becoming agitated at his words. It was like Q had sensed that, as it was the moment that he walked up behind me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, let's go." Q said, keeping his sights on Bobby.

I turned around with him, leaving the bar and getting into the first cab that we could find. The ride was quiet for a good five minutes, neither one of us saying anything. Something that was never a good sign.

"Is that the reason you came to New York? Because he was here?" Brian's voice finally breaking the silence.

"What?" I turned to face him, my face telling him that that was one of the dumbest things that I had ever heard. "Of course not. You saw my reaction, I didn't even know he was living out here."   
"Do you have feelings for him still?" He asked another bizarre in my mind question. All I could do was stare at him, as if I was waiting for him to tell me that he was just kidding around. "Well why else would you react like that?" 

"Just don't talk to me." I said, shaking my head, turning myself to look out of the window.

"You can't get pissed off at me for asking a simple question." 

"It wasn't one simple question, it was a compilation of several dumb ones." 

"Ones that I have the right to know if we're dating." 

"We're not dating." I turned to him, giving him a displeased look.

"You're impossible. For a guy that you didn't even date, he sure fucked you up upstairs." he said, pointing his finger at his head.

"Fuck you." I shook my head, trying my absolute hardest to not blow up on him right here, right now in the back of some guys cab. The poor guy just wanted to do his job, not be in the middle of some ridiculous dispute. "Can you just drop me off here, please?" I leant forward to the driver, who acknowledged my request and began to pull to the side of the road. I opened my door, getting out without giving Q the chance to even say a word more. Not that it seemed like he wanted to, as the glance I got of him showed he had no sign of pulling himself out of the little sulk he had going on.

I just needed a good rest. Tomorrow would be a new day. A new day that I would need a lot of energy for, considering I was working with a guy that I had very little patience for at this very moment in time. I just hoped that I would suddenly grow a major tolererance to annoyance over night. Wishful thinking, perhaps. But that was all that would get me dragging myself into work the next day.

After I had got back to my apartment after a much quieter, and relaxed cab ride, I climbed straight into bed. I decided to check my phone for any messages, deciding that if Brian was a logical person at all he would have at least decided to check in to see if I had made it home okay, but as I should have expected - nothing. Placing my phone on the nightstand, I slowly started to drift to sleep.

The early morning traffic the next day seemed like a sign to me, that the day was already starting of on a bad foot, and that would most likely continue knowing that I had to spend the day with Q. I had already decided to try and have as little contact with him as possible, and the fact that I had no messages from him at all seemed to imply that he just might be doing the same.

"Nah man, she only likes me when she's drunk." I heard Q's voice and laughter - making no attempt at being quiet - flow down the hallway as I walked to the office. Nice to see that he found this whole situation so comical, that was if he was even talking about me. Knowing him he could quite possibly have a long list of females that he treated the exact same way.

"As much as I would understand her for that, I don't think that's true." I heard Joe chuckle as he tried to reassure him.

"I'm telling you, it's the truth." Q countered back.

I decided now was a better time than ever to walk into the room, silence filling the space as everyone noticed my presence. Talk about awkward.

"Morning, Serena." Joe came over, placing a cup of coffee into my hands. His smile much warmer than my mood, instantly making me feel a little better.

"Morning Joe." I smiled back. "Shouldn't I be getting you the coffee?" 

"Heard you had a rough night." He leant in, lowering his voice slightly. "You're not in the wrong." 

"Huh?" I asked, feeling a little embarrassed that Q had been telling everyone the details. No matter how small the situation actually be.

"He over reacts. It's what he does. He's been hurt before, not that that's an excuse, but he's a little paranoid, I guess is the right choice of words. He gets angry, but once he stops being angry, he'll realize what he's done. That's just what he does. With anything." 

"But that's supposed to make it all okay, and more importantly make me feel better about what he said to me?" 

"No, not at all. But understand, like you, he's had something that didn't work out. And that leaves an impact. No matter how hard-shelled of a person." He said looking towards Q. 

He was such a hard surfaced human being, from what I had realized about him. He seemed much more cold, and distant than the other three, much harder to get to know. But maybe I hadn't taken the time to ask myself why. I guess in some way, I was like that too. Maybe we were more alike than I thought.


End file.
